I went to Coventry last night to see Oasis at the Ricoh Arena.
It was actually all thanks to the people at Ricoh, who had invited me to see the show and have a chat with them over dinner at the stadium. They had a very nice box where we could talk before the show started.
The traffic between London and Coventry was terrible. I was stuck on the M1 for ages, and the weather was atrocious during the journey. When I arrived I heard support band ‘The Enemy’ playing the last couple of songs of their set and fortunately by this time the sun had returned. I really like The Enemy, so it was a shame to miss their set… another time I guess.
Liam Gallagher looked very cool in his mod parka – he never took if off through the entire evening. Noel was on top form, the usual scrunched face, but when he is sober (as he usually is these days) he is an impressive guitarist. Since Gem and Andy arrived about 10 years ago Oasis have matured a lot. They share song-writing duties far more than in the early days and they are now a really impressive live act. I saw them back in the early days a few times and I never rated them as a live act. Throwing stuff at the crowd and swearing doesn’t count as entertainment, but now they are a class rock act and entering their 40s with a strong live following – able to sell out Wembley stadium this week 3 nights running. That’s 270,000 fans watching the band in London in one weekend.
They might not be shifting albums like they used to, but we are in a new era for music now. Bands with this kind of live following are going to keep going for years.
mark hillary 